Xiphos
Xiphos is the king of the barbarians and wielder of Kargob's Fang, one of the five Godswords. He is married to Kopis and is Harpe's father. He tries to kill King Hilton by infiltrating the Swor'nament, but the plan doesn't go as expected and he is killed by the Sword of Boundless Hunger. His corpse is thrown outside Hiltshire castle, and Kris the necromancer finds it and resurrects him by putting his soul in a soulsword. He returns to the Swor'nament and joins the fight against the demon king, and ends up with his soul attached to the demon. His zombie is attracted to the blade and devours it, giving the demon king a new body with Xiphos either dead or trapped somewhere inside. Biography Childhood Not much is know about Xiphos' childhood; it is assumed he grew up as a Barbarian Prince normally does. Sometime during Xiphos' adolescence, Kargob accidentally dropped his godsword out of the heavens. The blade fell right at young Xiphos' feet, and he wielded the weapon for the rest of his life. Invasion of Hiltshire While he was king of the barbarians, Xiphos led a large-scale invasion into Hiltshire. While laying seige to one of the cities in Hiltshire, Xiphos got into a shouting match with the three great sages of Hiltshire. He argued that Kargob has six eyes, and that he is very cool. The great sages agreed that Kargob is a cool god, but they yelled back that Kargob has eight eyes. Xiphos loudly proclaims that these are lies and the seige continues. The comic this occurs in is titled Holy War, suggesting that the entire conflict is about this disagreement over the number of eyes Kargob has. The barbarians eventually turned back when they mistook Hiltshire's citizens for an army of two-headed monsters, due to the fact that each set of two people was sharing one sword. The Swor'nament Xiphos entered the twenty-fifth annual Swor'nament in order to getting close enough to kill King Hilton. While wearing a shirt and his helmet he was unrecognizable as the barbarian king, and entered the tournament as "Xiphos the bartender". Xiphos won his first round battle against Prince Sheath in a brief, bloody fight. Bograk showed this to Kargob but Kargob had no interest in what was happening. This caused Xiphos to feel inexplicably sad and abandoned for a brief moment. Later, Xiphos talks to Smith after he wakes up. He informs Smith that King Hilton has been searching for Smith's sword for years, and now that he has it, they have to steal it back. Then the Lake Knight, who is in the room, then takes off her helmet, and Xiphos is shocked to see that it's his daughter, Harpe. He then almost tells them his plan to kill the king, but hastily prevents himself from doing so when Joyeuse walks into the room. Facing the King Xiphos sneaks into the King's throne room. As he watches King Hilton admire Baltad's Blade, the demon king and Smith sneak into the room next to him. Hilton noticed them, and asks them if they're here to steal the godsword. The demon king says "yes", but Xiphos exclaims that he's there for Hilton's head. The demon king then turns his arm into a sword and stabs Xiphos in the stomach to prevent him from interfering in the fight. Xiphos lays dying on the floor as the demon king fights King Hilton. He asks Smith to tell his daughter that he's proud of her, and to tell his six wives that they have to fight over his treasure. Smith incredulously asks is Xiphos really has six wives, to which Xiphos responds, "Yeah man. I'm a king". When the battle is over and the great sages find the bodies, they dump Xiphos 'corpse outside the castle and leave him. Heaven's Not Enough Xiphos' soul travels to what is presumably the afterlife, but Kargob is there and states that it's too early for him to be dead. Xiphos then returns to the Earth to learn that Kris the necromancer has found his corpse and put his soul in a soulsword. Xiphos' body is now a zombie. Kris then sends Xiphos back to complete in round two of the Swor'nament. The zombie holds the soulsword and is presumably controlled by the soul in it, effectively allowing Xiphos to fight. However, he still has some uncoordination as a zombie, and so he gets stabbed by Chad and Mere during his round. When the Sword of Boundless Hunger is revealed to be possessing Prince Parry, Xiphos' soul joins the fight by somehow attaching to Chad. When Prince Parry was finally defeated, his body broke apart, leaving only the five-eyed demon sword behind. Xiphos insisted on being the one to kill the demon sword, so mere stabbed chad(with Xiphos' ghost attached) into the demon sword. Instead of killing it, however, Xiphos' soul attacked to the demon sword. Personality Xiphos is very serious and driven. It's hard tell how he reacts to events because of his helmet, but it's clear that he remains focused on his mission to kill the king. He also has a soft spot for his daughter, telling her that she is his best friend. Motivation Not much is known about why Xiphos does what he does. He cares very much about his daughter and slightly less about his wives, and he wants to stop King Hilton from acquiring the Godswords. Why he wants that and how he knows about it is not known. Powers and Abilities * Swordsmanship: Xiphos is very skilled with a sword. He managed to defeat Prince Sheath of Palladium before Sharp Sharply had time to introduce both of the fighters. Xiphos didn't even receive a scratch from this battle. * Silver Tongue: '''Xiphos is able to convince anyone that he is most definitely not up to something with a quick catch of his words. * '''Immortality: After his death, Kris he necromancer put Xiphos' soul in a soulsword. As long as the sword is not destroyed, Xiphos won't move on to whatever is after death. His zombified body can be stabbed and dismembered, but that won't kill him either. * Possible Possession: When Xiphos and some allies confront the demon king that has possessed Prince Parry, his soul seems to be attached to Chad. It's unclear if what is happening is Xiphos possessing Chad or something else. This seems to be transferred by stabbing; when zombie xiphos was stabbed by Chad, Xiphos' soul was transferred to Chad. Similarly, the soul attached to the sword of boundless hunger when it was stabbed. Gear * Kargob's Fang: Xiphos wields Kargob's Godsword for most of his life. The full extent of this weapon's power is unclear, though it does contain a powerful soul inside if it that can attack enemies. Xiphos is never shown releasing this soul on his foes, however. * Barbarian Helmet: Xiphos wears a snazzy barbarian helmet that resembles a bucket with horns. This helmet has six eye holes(three over each eye), which is a reference to the belief that Kargob has six eyes. This helmet disguises Xiphos as well as protecting his skull from getting smashed in. The left horn's tip is broken off. * Soulsword: Xiphos' soul was put in a soulsword after his death. His zombified body wielded this blade in his fight against Chad and Mere. Relationships Trivia * A Xiphos is a type of Ancient Greek shortsword.